For the past several years since the building of the Memorial Wall in the POW Park at Jinguashi, we have wanted to have a bench placed there so that people who come to visit can sit and remember and reflect on their loved ones, the service they gave and the suffering they went through as POWs here so many years ago. We had asked the New Taipei City Gov't. to provide such a bench when we were constructing Phase 2 of the park in 2011, but budget restraints and other issues seemed to get in the way.
So then we repeatedly asked the government if our Society could place a bench there which we would provide, and finally on October 27th 2015 the permission was granted. Two days later on the 29th we purchased a beautiful granite bench with a polished black base and white and black flecked seat that matches both the wall and also the POW Memorial. It was then transported to the engraving factory nearby to have the words "LEST WE FORGET" engraved on the back. One week later on November 5th, the bench was installed in front of the wall in the park and thus it was in place on the 70th Anniversary of the End of World War II and also in time for that year's Remembrance Day event.
Our thanks to all those who have shared our vision about the bench, and to those who generously donated to its procurement. It will remain there forever as a place for rest and remembrance - LEST WE FORGET!
Photos of the memorial bench and POW Ken Pett & his family by the bench on Remembrance Day 2015.